Southern California native Taylor had no choice but to love landscape design: something's always in bloom. A few years ago, she dug-up her front lawn and replaced it with lots of drought-tolerant plants, native grasses, succulents, and various types of hardscaping, and has evolved into an environmentally conscious landscape designer.

She lives with her family in a midcentury modern house with an authentic 1964-built swimming pool in dire need of renovation. It -- along with dozens of other projects-- is on the Taylors' do-it-ourselves, hopefully-sometime-soon list.

Taylor has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Emmy, Westways, and L.A. Parent. She's also written/edited for the Screen Actors Guild, PBS and MBI Publishing. Prior to freelancing, she was an editor/writer for both KCET -- Southern California's PBS station -- and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Taylor is a member of the Garden Writers Association and the L.A. Conservancy.

Taylor has a B.A. in Art from Cal Poly, Pomona (California State Polytechnic University). She is completing her certification in landscape design and also is certified in fine and decorative arts appraisal from the University of California, Irvine.

Outdoor spaces feature more hardscaping than ever before. Many can be DIY projects accessible to anyone, at any skill level. The size of your space doesn't matter: a petite plot near an apartment door is just as significant as a massive, multi-level deck. Don't be afraid to attempt a project: if you can follow directions and not take yourself too seriously, you can dig-in to the DIY world.

My first garden as an adult consisted of yard-sale windowboxes perched on the second-floor landing of my apartment in L.A. I realized you can create an outdoor space almost anywhere, and those lowly flowerboxes ignited an interest that has become a passion. You've got to start somewhere.